Old access networks (such as the Plain Old Telephone System) used pairs of copper wires to provide telephone services to domestic users. As telecommunication technology evolved these pairs of copper wires were used to convey broadband transmissions. Telecommunication technology evolved by defining communication standards, utilizing multiple-queue switched and routers and improving the throughput and capabilities of network elements. The following U.S. patents and patent applications, all being incorporated herein by reference, illustrate some modern telecommunication devices: U.S. patent application serial number 2005/0190779 of Hoffman et al., U.S. patent application serial number 2004/0064430 of Klein et al., U.S. patent application serial number 2003/0179751 of Omae et al., U.S. patent application serial number 2005/0030974 of Wright et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 6,879,590 of Pedersen et al.
Ethernet technology gradually replaces Asynchronous Transport Mode (ATM) technology. A new group of standards, generally referred to as Ethernet in the First Mile (EFM), defines ways to utilize Ethernet technology at the access network. An EFM-compliant transmitter can receive (or generate) a stream of packets, fragment these packets to provide information fragments, associate serial numbers with information fragments encapsulate these information fragments with a header and a trailer and utilize different communication paths for transmitting these information fragments. The serial numbers reflect the generation time (or order) of the information fragments. The serial numbers are generated by a cyclic serial number generator, such as a k-bit counter, k being a positive integer.
The headers may include the serial number as well as a start of packet bit and an end of packet bit that indicate whether the information fragment is the first information fragment (or the last) of a packet. The trailer as well as the payload can include error correction fields such as an information packet CRC field, an information fragment CRC and the like.
The different communication paths (usually different physical links) can have different transmission characteristics (such as bit rate, delay, delay jitter, and the like), so that the multiple information fragments that are transmitted over the multiple communication paths arrive to a receiver out of order.
There is a need to provide efficient methods and devices for processing information fragments.